「つながる想い」 (Tsunagaru Omoi)
“Connected Feelings”

General Impressions

Sasuke’s reaction to the situation was a laughable, hot-pile of garbage. Your wife got kidnapped, your daughter is worried out of her mind, and all you can muster is irate disinterest? Allegedly he also had an affair with Karin, and while the evidence might seem pretty damning, Suigetsu is the one being an utter mongrel. Frankly put, it amazed me how he managed to make the situation DEFCON 2. I couldn’t help but laugh at how he screwed up so badly, then tried to abort on the situation – ‘I’m leaving this to you, Lord Hokage!‘. What an incompetent scumbag, and poor Sarada. Her subsequent breakdown is completely understandable.

But seriously, give Naruto a medal. Without any hesitation, he goes straight to delivering reassurances alongside some clutch ass Talk no Jutsu. What made the moment special to me was how he didn’t put down Sarada when she dismissed him. Naruto gave her space to sort out her own feelings, and figure things out herself. Little does she know that Naruto truly had it worse than anybody else, and props to him for demonstrating such patience and empathy. Myself included, perhaps people have been too harsh on Naruto. He’d probably have made a good father, were it not for his responsibilities as Hokage. I actually teared up a bit when we got some of those still flashbacks to Naruto’s childhood. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the magic that made me love this series in the first place. For me, it also represented a greater thing meaning more than genetics, like Sakura spoke of. I could see the Will of Fire passing through generations, from the Third Hokage comforting Iruka after losing his parents, from Iruka telling Naruto he was not alone, before finally coming to Sarada.

Concluding Thoughts

Doesn’t seem like the past decade has been productive for Yamato. While all his students have already married and gotten around to starting families, this guy is stuck monitoring the very creep who carried out genetic experiments on him. On top of vanishing for 200 odd chapters, I’d say he got the short end of the stick.

I’m with Shin on the opinion that Itachi is the best Uchiha, but this man takes his zealotry too far. His neo-Uchihan ideology dangerously verges on eugenics, and the way he treats his progeny is downright inhumane. It’s high time for someone to slap this monster down. With the return of Sasuke’s Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and Rinnegan, you can expect that moment to come quite soon. I think next episode should wrap up Sarada Gaiden, since there are just two chapters left to go. While the adaptation has generally been faithful, I felt there were problems with pacing and tone that I’ll go into much more detail about once the arc ends.

Preview

13 Comments

  1. A lot of this drama can just be solved if Sasuke just tell his daughter her origin story–aka. I had sexy time with your mother 10 years ago and she won’t stop following me around afterwards so you were born with the help of my old buddies from Sound. Don’t believe me? Let me tell you some graphic details that will scar you for life.

    But nope.

    Anyway, I hope the anime will be able to carry the underlying trust and believe he had on Sakura’s ability that they hinted at in the manga. But I don’t have high hopes, to be honest.

    Ori
    1. Ive never been a fan of the original series “except for key fight scenes” i prob only watched under 10 episodes of naruto, but ive seen a few of the films.

      With dat said, from that point of view i find this show interesting, cuz is like i skipped but SOMEHOW still end up knowing most charecters.

      Can someone explain those “graphic details that will scar your life” to me please???

      Was it some gene splicing jitsu or something?? Why was it a match?

      BROOKLYN otaku
      1. Let’s do some maths. A parent cannot have a 100% genetic match with their child (unless said child was a complete clone), because Sarada is allegedly 50% Sasuke as well.

        So how comes Karin has a 100% perfect match with Sarada?

        Hmmm…

        Also, these scarring graphic details are just an insinuation for the birds and the bees, but I highly doubt Sasuke would openly talk about such uncouth matters.

  2. The adaptation is really bad. It represented characters in wrong way. “Gaiden” has some problems as if Kishimoto has not much time to create a solid story, but at least it was understandable and interesting in its own way. As for the adaptation, it is dim. What’s wrong with the authors make Sakura said those horrible words about her “loss as the mother” in the last episode? Missing scenes, wrong face expressions… I hated how the creators represented Sakura back then. Start with her looks (strange faces, flat figure, different clothes), her abilities as a shinobi and as a “girl” (one hit as her only ability, can’t cook, etc) ending her personality (an eternal teen who always angry or stupidly smiling). There was no Sakura in anime at all. Absolutely different character I saw in manga when I dropped the anime after the Sai’s appearence in Shippuden.

    May be other characters got their “damage” from adaptation too (it is so) but she was the one who got it the most. It is sad cause she is a really likeable. This manga deserve better adaptation. Not only “Gaiden”, but “Naruto”. Сaptivating story, admirable ideas, interesing characters.

    Seya-san
    1. Was Sakura even relevant on the manga series? I don’t remember she have any important role in the plot after shippuden timeskip: with most of the time she’s just there, doing something on the background and appearing for a few panel to remind us she’s exist…

      cryarc
      1. If you mean war then you can say it about any other character except Naruto and Sasuke and some “new” like Obito or Madara, Hashirama. If you mean Shippuden then yes, I remember her as a character. Also I remember Shikamaru and few others who continued to evolve with the story.

        Seya-san
  3. https://randomc.net/image/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations%20-%2022%20-%20Large%2027.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations%20-%2022%20-%20Large%2028.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations%20-%2022%20-%20Large%2029.jpg
    Things that crossed my mind:
    1. Are glasses a genetic thing? Seriously curious about that when I first saw Sarada. Or, in real life, it’s possible for a child to suddenly develop a genetic problem that his/her parents didn’t have, Sarada’s short sightedness in this case.

    2. In relation to this episode. I think I recall, not sure which, about some anime characters being adopted by a loving mother. In some cases, the anime character was adopted by a woman that loved the Main Character’s father. Not sure which one. Anyone know a similar theme? Thanks in advance. The closest I know would be Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ILLYA, where our magical girl was being taken care of by maids that take on a motherly role.

    L002
    1. You sure can my friend. I’ve been using glasses sicne I was 3 and a half years old, but neither mom or dad had the same problem I’ve in my eyes. So isn’t strange for a child to develop this problem.

      Syaoran Li
  4. Naruto is Sarada’s Best Dad. He understands better than anyone that “family” doesn’t rely on blood ties.

    You know, in the original manga story, Sarada threatened to leave Konoha for good. That must have triggered Naruto’s alarms (“Stop right there, every time a Uchiha goes rogue shit happens!”).

    Suigetsu is the one being an utter mongrel. Frankly put, it amazed me how he managed to make the situation DEFCON 2. I couldn’t help but laugh at how he screwed up so badly, then tried to abort on the situation – ‘I’m leaving this to you, Lord Hokage!‘. What an incompetent scumbag

    I think that you’re being too hard on Suigetsu. Yes, he made things worse, and yes, he ran away like a coward once the cat was out of the bag, but he’s actually right that it’s all Sasuke’s fault. Well, Sasuke’s and the fault of everyone around Sarada who knew the truth and said nothing. Suigetsu actually tried to help without malice and without hiding the truth from Sarada. I mean:

    Sakura: “I’m hiding Sasuke’s past from Sarada for her own good”.

    Sasuke: “This doesn’t have anything to do with you”.

    Suigetsu: “You have questions? Oh, well, DNA tests are very quickly nowadays, do you want to try?”

    If Naruto Boruto’s Dad series has taught us one thing, it’s that hiding stuff from the younger generation because of some plan based on “lying for the greater good” and “adults know best” has a high risk of backfiring. If young Uchiha are involved, the backfiring can be spectacular.

    Mistic
    1. Hey Mistic! With Sarada threatening to run from Konoha, Naruto probably thought ‘Not this shit again!’ and immediately busted out the Talk no Jutsu to quell any risks.

      Calling Suigetsu a scumbag was down to him running away, and not stepping up to the situation. In hindsight, I have been too hard on him. I was simply amazed because he never showcased this kind of incompetence in the original series, as far as I could remember.

      Definitely agree on lies being troublesome, even if they are made with good intentions.

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